But simply managing the flow of paper is
not enough to stay on top of your job Even if
you are diligent in your follow-up detail, and
even if you keep a meticulous calendar of
appointments, you could still be mis
managing your time. "One of the big prob
lems people have is they let their calendar
manage them rather than their goals,"
observes management expert Kenneth
Blanchard, co-author (with Spencer
Johnson) of The One-Minute Manager, who
helped to redefine the way America goes
about its business. "A lot of times we just fill
our calendar up and let our calendar run
us, rather than the other way around.
Somebody will call you and say, 'Can you
be at such and such a meeting?’ and you'll
immediately go to your calendar to see if
you're free, but what you should be doing Is
seeing where the appointment fits in with
your goals before you make a decision "
One of the easiest ways to stay organ
ized on the job, then, is to clearly define and
redefine your goals on each and every proj
ect. If you know precisely what result you 're
looking for from a given action, then you
will more than likely develop the skills to
achieve those goals. If you're uncertain of
your goals, then there’s a good chance
you’ll be tentative and uncertain (and,
hence, disorganized) in your actions.
“The way you save the most time is to
determine up front what the goals and ob
jectives are," agrees Blanchard. "All good
performance starts with clear goals It
takes time to clean up the messes we’ve
made that are caused by the lack of com
munication around goals."
And, in order to clearly define and
establish career goals, Blanchard tells
young professionals not to be afraid to ask
their superiors for help "So often people
let their pride get in the way, and they don't
know exactly what they're doing or what the
assignment is all about,” he says. "They’ll
never be organized because they don’t
know what they're supposed to do. What
you need to do with your boss is not be
afraid to ask for help. If you do, there’s no
way you can lose If your boss gives you
help and direction, then you win. If your
boss doesn’t, then you break even
because you didn’t have it before "
Once your goals are defined, you've got
to go about achieving them, which brings
us back to paperwork Nearly every key
transaction or exchange you will make on
your first job will be carried out, in some
form, on paper, and you will most likely
have to wade your way through a mass of
paperwork to accomplish your goals
Knowing what to do with a piece of
paper—from an inter-office memo to an in
vitation, to an order form—can often spell
success or failure In the organization
department. To help her clients traffic the
flow of paper, organization expert Winston
has devised something called the TRAF
system, which refers to the ability to toss,
refer, act on or file any piece of business
correspondence
Your first chance, using Winston’s mind
set, to toss a piece of paper comes when
you first receive it. If it's junk mail —an in
vitation to a function you're not expected to
respond to or attend, for example—get rid
of it. Throw the roughage away before it
gets a chance to accumulate Sometimes
the mere sight of untended paperwork is
enough to slow you down
When you refer an item to someone
else—either by sending it to a colleague's
attention for further information, or passing
it on to another department—don’t think of
it as passing the buck It may be that
another person in your department is bet
ter equipped to handle the matter
IT, nowever, you plan on eventually laumy
action on an item, act now There’s no
sense putting oft the simple execution of a
simple matter, unless of course some sort
of crisis rears its ugly head, in which case
you should carefully file the item where you
can quickly locate it at first chance
And, of course, if you've got to file
something, file it somewhere you can
easily find it Devise a system which works
best for you, one which helps you prioritize
your paperwork load
"There are only four and a half things to
do with a piece of paper," Winston says,
referring to her four-step TRAF method
(The "half ", she says, is for those of us who
actually want to read the thing before we do
anything else with it.) "The ability to pro
cess and manage paper, I really feel, is a
key aspect to being able to see where you
stand, to know what you have to do when
you have to do it.
"But what it all comes back to is
organization," she says, "and what it
means to organize, to be organized, is that
your life is set up in the home or in the office
to make things comfortable and easy for
you, so that you can find what you want to
find when you want to find it And I firmly
believe people need at least some form of
organization in order to do that."
TO DO OR NOT
TO DO
We are a list-happy society Most
likely all of you have kept one
list or another during your life
time, perhaps a shopping list or a research
list or a list of frequently-called telephone
numbers.
Most likely, too, you will keep something
resembling a "To Do" list once you begin
your first job, a task-by-task agenda detail
ing everything you set out to accomplish in
a given day or week The trouble with "To
Do" lists is they tend to get out of hand, and
unless you make smart use of the things,
"To Do" lists will do a number on your
sense of achievement
"Your goal in a given day should not be to
do everything on your To Do' list,”
counsels One-Minute Manager co-author
Blanchard "Your goal should be to do the
most important things on your list A lot of